


Dieithriaid

by starsystems



Series: summerpornathon 2010 [2]
Category: Merlin (TV), Torchwood
Genre: Community: summerpornathon, Crossover, M/M, Wordcount: 500-1.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-30
Updated: 2010-07-30
Packaged: 2017-10-23 02:56:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/245527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starsystems/pseuds/starsystems
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They travel along a fairy path and it brings them too far.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dieithriaid

**Author's Note:**

> [A translator](http://www.geiriadur.net/) tells me that _dieithriaid_ means strangers/exotic species in Welsh.
> 
> Written for the crossovers/fusions challenge at summerpornathon 2010.

They travel along a fairy path and it brings them too far away. When they emerge, only Merlin is still next to him. They are met by five people, dressed in dark leathers, guarded expressions on their faces. They tell them not to worry.

They are put in a "safe house", sharing a room with two beds built over one another. Merlin is enthralled by buttons and zippers, unbuttoning, unzipping and then zipping up, buttoning up again. Arthur misses the long moments that Merlin had to take to dress him before. Now, everything seems too simple.

Arthur doesn't care of the magical non-magic of this place. Machines that he can't understand are almost like living things. Doors open without anyone pushing them. The light feels alien on his skin. Even the air smells different here.

He doesn't want to admit it, but the leader of these people scares him. He watches the man, listens to his strange accent, watches how his coat billows around him like the capes of his knights, who are missing somewhere back in the fog of his real world.

The rest of the team keep their distance from him. Arthur isn't sure why. They recognized their names, both his and Merlin's, but they only seem to get friendly with Merlin. Maybe it's just the way Merlin never seems dangerous. But they know his name. They should know better than this.

There are no castles in this world, no true leaders, just too many people, always too many people out there, and streets like mazes. Arthur doesn't want to get out of the Hub, doesn't really care about what goes on above ground. He likes to watch the water slide down the gleaming, impossible construct in the middle of the Hub. And he, somehow, likes the silent, horrifying creatures in the cells, even deeper underground than he is. They aren't magical beasts for him to kill. This isn't his world.

He wonders if he will ever again see something familiar that isn't the way Merlin looks at him. That isn't Merlin.

He is jealous of the way Merlin is friends with everyone, how it seems like he adapts into this world without difficulty. He doesn't know how to ask what he should do. He hates the feeling of being lesser here. Because of that he finally reaches out to Merlin, the Hub silent around them.

It's the first time he touches Merlin like this, with intent. All the years they have known each other, all the secrets they once hid from each other and now share, all of it doesn't seem to matter that much here. He pushes Merlin on to the old couch, the seats softer than anything Arthur has known, and kisses him like he is trying to extract something from him.

Merlin's fingers grip his arms tightly, bruising. "Been waiting for you for so long," Merlin says into his ear.

Later, Jack brings them above ground, shows them his city from the top of a tall building. Arthur watches the lights around them, blinking in the horizon. All of this land, full of people and they are hidden, removed from all of that life, he thinks. Merlin squeezes his hand and for the first time Arthur understands what it's like to love this world, the first time he understands Jack, a little. "This is not your world either," Arthur says. Jack smiles.

"I can still feel the ground under us," Merlin whispers. "I can still feel how it welcomes us back."

He doesn't let go of Arthur's hand.

Something unravels from the back of Arthur's neck when they return to the Hub. Jack is quiet, but smiling, looking so satisfied that Arthur grins at him in return.

He goes to hunt Weevils with Jack and almost feels like his old self again. His blood pounds in his veins and it makes him straighten his shoulders again. There are no forests filled with game here, but the shadows are still the same.

Merlin keeps kissing him. In the darkness of the Hub, in the broad daylight in the middle of a crowd, when someone's looking and when they are alone. Through those kisses, Arthur can feel the ground resonating under them. He cherishes the freedom, almost forgets how it was back home. Almost accepts this strange world that he can understand through Merlin. Almost stops being disappointed in himself.

He lets Merlin hold him through the nights and doesn't think about what he once was.


End file.
